Lawn Tennis Association to Hold Friday Pride Day at Tournaments With the Support of ATP and WTA

In the recent day and age, politics has had a major influence on sports. Tennis is no exception. Take the example of the Eastern European conflict. As a result of growing tensions in Eastern Europe, Wimbledon announced a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes for this year’s tournament.

However, it had to face repercussions for this decision. The governing bodies decided to strip the tournament of ranking points owing to its ban on players based on their nationalities.

This month, the world will celebrate Pride Month. Recently, the Lawn Tennis Association has announced a decision to mark Pride Month at its events.

Lawn Tennis Association plans to celebrate Pride Month

To mark Pride Month;?the LTA, with support from the ATP and WTA, will hold Friday Pride Day at its tournaments this year. It will be held during the Nottingham Open, Birmingham Classic, Queen?s, and Eastbourne International.

Further, talking about the importance of this event, British star, Liam Broady said, “We still live in a time when people don’t always feel like they can be open about their sexual orientation or gender identity, so the more we can do to show support and let them know everything is ok the better.”?

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WTA stars celebrated Pride Month last year

In June 2021, players on the women’s circuit teamed up with other top athletes to mark Pride Month. Among them were the likes of Madison Keys and Ashleigh Barty.

“Pride Month to me is this massive celebration of all of these different people coming together and celebrating being yourself, being true to yourself. I have been incredibly embraced by the LGBTQ+ community. I have quite a few fans and I think the biggest thing is that I love the ability to just be yourself and be true to yourself,”?Keys said while celebrating this month.

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The grass-court season begins next week with the Wimbledon Championships scheduled to take place.